


In Sickness and Health

by quartzguts



Series: Wedding Bells [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Arranged Marriage, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartzguts/pseuds/quartzguts
Summary: His Excellency Ardyn Izunia, the Imperial Chancellor of Niflheim, stood before Noct. He looked positively exuberant, like this was the happiest day of his life. Which Noct supposed it was. He was getting married.To him.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Wedding Bells [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725430
Comments: 7
Kudos: 109





	In Sickness and Health

Noct’s mouth went dry the moment he entered the room.

The ceremony had been rushed, the Citadel staff having barely two weeks to get everything sorted on top of preparing for the peace treaty signing the previous night. As such, the best they could manage was a lavishly decorated meeting hall. Noct could hardly think as he glanced around the room. There were roses, the appropriate flower for the occasion, decorating the windows. Black satin ribbons hung from the walls. Two delicate chandeliers were suspended from the ceiling. Rows of uncomfortable looking chairs stretched across the floor, split down the middle by a sleek black rug running from the entrance of the room to the stage at its head, where a podium sat with a small pillow on top. The pillow that would hold the rings.

The entire room shimmered and sparkled. Anyone would be thrilled to be married in a place like this. Noct already knew the newspapers were going to have a field day with it.

He twisted the engagement ring on his finger. It was a ridiculous, gaudy thing that sparkled every time any bit of light shone on it. Noct hated it with all his heart. He kept staring and staring at everything, like if he just looked long enough all of it would disappear and his life would go back to normal.

He scarcely noticed the footsteps coming up behind him. They were soft, slow. Probably Ignis, there to tell him to quit dawdling and go get dressed. They only had a few hours until the ceremony, after all.

“Admiring the venue, are we?” a silky voice asked.

Noct startled. It wasn’t Ignis.

His Excellency Ardyn Izunia, the Imperial Chancellor of Niflheim, stood before Noct. He looked positively exuberant, like this was the happiest day of his life. Which Noct supposed it was. He was getting married.

To _him_.

Noct awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets, murmuring something so incomprehensible even he wasn’t sure what it was. He couldn’t help the frustrated blush that rose up on his cheeks, and practically died of embarrassment when Ardyn’s fingers brushed against one of his reddening ears. A swirl of awful feelings, embarrassment, panic, and nervousness among them, congealed in his stomach. He sputtered, words dying in his throat, and Ardyn kept lightly stoking over the tip of his ear. This was swiftly turning into the worst wedding day in the history of weddings.

“Isn’t it bad luck for us to see each other on the day of the wedding?” he managed to blurt out. He needed to say _something_ to distract himself from the sudden realization that yes, he was in fact getting married, today, to this man, whom he didn’t know and had never spoken more than two words to before yesterday.

Ardyn chuckled. “Oh, I hardly believe in superstitions, Your Highness.”

“Sure you don’t,” Noct spat, and good gods could someone please kill him before he ended up actually insulting his soon-to-be-husband and slam dunking the entire peace treaty into the garbage a mere twelve hours after it had been signed?

Luckily, Ardyn laughed at that, too. “You truly are a marvel, my dear. I can hardly wait until we’ve said our vows.”

“Creepy,” Noct said, before slapping a hand over his mouth. “I mean, I’m sorry, I - I just -”

“No offense taken,” Ardyn said, hands raised in surrender. The gesture was mocking, but at least he wasn’t touching him anymore. If the Chancellor had gotten any more handsy, Noct might have exploded. “Noctis, darling, may we talk?”

“Don’t call me darling,” Noct said through his fingers.

“A fair request.” Ardyn brought his left hand up to admire his own ring. Noct was fiercely jealous of the simple silver band. He’d picked it out for Ardyn, _desperately_ hoping that his surprise fiancé would choose something similarly inconspicuous for him. Unfortunately, fate (and Ardyn) had different plans. “I’ve noticed you seem a bit apprehensive about our wedding.”

The color drained out of Noct’s face. “Uh.”

“I was wondering if -”

“I’m all for the wedding!” Noct all but shouted. His hands went back to messing with his ring. “I mean, I’m totally willing to - to do this, and marry you for the peace. Because Lucis means everything to me, and it’s really, really important that this treaty actually sticks. A lot of lives depend on it. So I’m willing to do whatever I have to, even if it means marrying someone I don’t know. And yeah, I’m nervous, but who wouldn’t be? It doesn’t mean I’m going to bow out. So what I’m saying is it’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

Ardyn looked at him with an amused expression. “I was merely asking if you would want to postpone our living together as a couple.”

Noct winced as he twisted the engagement ring so hard it pulled on his skin. “What.”

“After the wedding, we will retire to a manor your father has selected for us in Insomnia, where we will spend a month together on honeymoon getting to know one another before I must return to Niflheim. After that, we will only see each other once every few months or so.” Noct already knew all of that. He’d read over the plans at least fifty times the previous night alone. “I am asking if you would like to postpone our honeymoon to a later date. I know this is all very sudden for you, and I’d _hate_ to overwhelm you.”

Ardyn’s voice was just slightly mocking, and his expression had a hint of challenge to it, but when Noct failed to rise to the bait and weakly said “yeah, I’d like that,” he fell into something more sympathetic. He reached out for Noct again, but settled for just ruffling his hair.

“Then worry no longer. I shall make the proper arrangements with your father and my liege. We’ll meet again at the altar, _darling_!”

Ardyn whistled on his way out of the ceremony hall. The unwanted pet name combined with his obnoxious swagger reminded Noct of all the reasons he hated _His Excellency_ , and he was left burning with annoyance. When Noct stomped back to his room to let Ignis begin helping him prepare for the ceremony, though, he found himself looking with his engagement ring with a little less bitterness than before.

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally written in december, after which it floated around for a while because i thought i was going to add more to it. i was wrong. then i thought, i'll post this for valentine's day! and then i didn't.  
> so, um, here. have it now.


End file.
